


Home Alone

by bughead_is_riverdale



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 'Plantonic' bed sharing, Bughead Oneshot, Christmas, Christmas Eve, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Home Alone, Mechanic! Betty, New York City, Oneshot, Sleepy Cuddles, Snow, Snowed In, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 15:32:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13216743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bughead_is_riverdale/pseuds/bughead_is_riverdale
Summary: When there is snow in New York, neither Betty or Jughead can make it home for Christmas. Their loved-up roommates have flown off to Hawaii for the holidays so that leaves them alone in their respective apartments. Until Jughead knocks on Betty’s door…





	Home Alone

Betty watched the fluffy white flakes drift past her window and frowned. Under normal circumstances, she would be overjoyed at the prospect of snow on Christmas Eve. She remembered wishing for snow every Christmas when she was a child living back in Riverdale. Her and her old sister Polly would squeal with joy at the first sight of snowflakes, snatch the old sledge from the garage, and have snowman-building competitions. But she was no longer a child, and this wasn’t Riverdale.

This was New York, and snow meant she wouldn’t make it back home for Christmas.

Betty grimaced at the prospect of phoning her mother and telling her that she wouldn’t be able to make it for The Cooper Family’s perfect Christmas Day. Alice Cooper had warned her about the weather, demanding that she get the train home a few days earlier, but Betty had had assessments to finish and had dismissed her mother’s concerns. Now she was going to pay for it with a scolding and a lack of Christmas dinner. 

Her best-friend and roommate Veronica Lodge had jetted off to Hawaii, with her red-haired boyfriend Archie, to spend Christmas basking in the hot sun and charge as much money to her father’s credit card as possible. Veronica’s parents had flown to Paris for Christmas, leaving her to fend for herself, and Veronica’s favourite way to get back at them was to spend heaps upon heaps of money. She had offered to take Betty as well, but Betty couldn’t imagine anything worse than third-wheeling with the loved-up couple on holiday. She did enough of that back in New York. 

Betty winced as she heard her phone buzzing on the coffee table. Alice Cooper didn’t waste any time.

“Hi Mum” she mumbled, after she had worked up the courage to answer.

“Don’t mumble Elizabeth. It isn’t lady-like.” Betty rolled her eyes. “Now, I’ve looked on the news and it appears that all the trains are being cancelled.”

“Yeah, the snow is pretty heavy here.” she replied, although her mother already knew that.

“So how are you going to get home?” Alice demanded.

“Well, I’m not. I’ll just have to spend Christmas in New York.”

Alice spent the next fifteen minutes berating her daughter. She argued that it wasn’t practical for her to stay there all by herself. What if she got burgled? Betty argued that _Home Alone_ was set in Chicago, not New York. Alice scolded her for being cheeky. Eventually, Alice hung up and Betty was left to mope about her ruined Christmas on her own.

Betty kept herself busy; tidying up the apartment, unpacking her suitcase, and baking Christmas cookies so she actually had something festive to eat the following day. She looked around her perfectly-decorated apartment and wondered how she could lose all of her Christmas cheer so quickly. The Christmas tree lights twinkled in response and the paper gingerbread-men seemed to smile from where they were hanging over the mantelpiece.

Later in the evening, when Betty was curled up on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and watching replays of all her favourite Christmas movies on the television, she started feeling very cold. It was odd, she thought, because, despite all of the wintry weather, her apartment was usually like a sauna all year round. Veronica kept it that way and then sent the hefty heating bill to her father at the end of the month. 

Betty reluctantly uncurled herself from her blanket and shuffled over to the radiator, brushing her fingers over the top and groaned when she found it as cold as ice. No plumber was going to come out and fix the heating on Christmas Eve. She was going to have to try and fix it herself. 

Changing into an old shirt and her worn-down dungarees that she kept aside for doing odd jobs around the apartment, Betty pulled her blonde hair back into a messy bun and retrieved her toolbox from where Veronica kept it stashed away under the sink and started examining the radiator. She used to work on car engines with her father and he often asked for her help on DIY jobs around the house. Fixing a faulty radiator shouldn’t be too hard. 

She tinkered away at the radiator for about half an hour, checking for air bubbles in the pipes and a fault with the valve, before there was a knock at her door. She wondered who would be coming to visit her at this time of night on Christmas Eve. Was it a burglar? No, burglars don’t knock on the door.

“Coming” she called, wiping her dirty hands on a rag that she threw over her shoulder as she headed towards the door. 

 

Jughead Jones had woken up to a blanket of snow and broken heating in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve. Looking out of his bedroom window as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he just knew that his plane home to Toledo would be cancelled. He couldn’t bring himself to care too much though, Christmas in the Jones household always ending in screaming and general misery. The only person he would actually miss was his little sister, Jellybean, but she was old enough to travel to New York on her own now. Maybe she could come and visit him in the New Year, if he managed to pull some money together for a ticket. 

His apartment was freezing, he could see his breath like an icy cloud as he walked into the kitchen, still wrapped in his duvet like a cocoon. He switched on the coffee machine, which seemed to be working (thank God), and let the hot steam brush over his face as the heavenly liquid brewed noisily. He leant against the kitchen counter, shivering, as he sipped his coffee. Black, no sugar. The only way to have coffee in his opinion. 

His roommate and best-friend Archie Andrews, a red-haired all-American boy studying music at NYU with a football scholarship, had flown down to Hawaii with his rich girlfriend for Christmas. Jughead suspected it was so he wouldn’t have to choose who to spend Christmas with between his newly-divorced parents, although Archie insisted it was because he had always wanted to learn how to surf. Jughead wished that he had the option to just fly away somewhere.

Jughead’s other best-friend, Betty Cooper, was going home to Riverdale for Christmas. So that left him alone, in the middle of New York, with a couple of cans of baked beans and some instant noodles to get him by until the shops reopened. Not exactly the Christmas of his dreams. 

Jughead had a shower, thankfully the shower was electric and not connected to the broken heating, and then spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the sofa with a bowl of instant noodles and a packet of chocolate chip cookies, tucked securely underneath his duvet. There wasn’t much on the television besides Christmas movies, and Jughead hated Christmas movies. He pulled open his laptop and checked the news. It was mostly about the miracle-dump of snow overnight all over New York. All airplanes from the airports had been cancelled and no trains were in operation due to the heavy snow covering the tracks. The only transport working was the subway. 

Jughead read the headlines again. All trains were cancelled. Did that mean Betty was also stranded in New York?

 

“Jughead? Did you walk here?” Betty asked in astonishment, dusting away the snowflakes that clung to his shoulders as he stepped into her apartment. His apartment was five blocks away from her own which, under normal circumstances, was an easy walk, but not in this weather. 

“I couldn’t let Betty Cooper celebrate Christmas on her own” Jughead replied, cocking his head to the side as he flashed her a grin. A dark curl escaped the grey beanie that was firmly planted on his head and fell over his forehead. Betty blushed as she imagined what it would be like to run her hands through that hair. “Is your heating broken as well?” he gestured towards her less-than-flattering attire.

“Uh yeah” Betty mumbled, pulling on her dungarees self-consciously. “It’s going to be a long Christmas” she sighed.

“Well I brought rations” Jughead laughed, holding up a tin of beans and a packet of cookies. 

Betty raised her eyebrows at her best-friend. “And how were you planning to survive off cookies and baked beans?” Her tone was sceptical.

“I wasn’t, that’s why I’m here.” He winked at her and Betty felt her heart flutter. He walked past her into the apartment and shrugged off his coat, hanging it on the back of the kitchen chair, and rubbed his icy hands together. 

“Well now that you’re here, you can help me fix the heating” Betty instructed as she marched back towards the meddlesome radiator and glared at it, picking up her spanner. “Then I might feed you something other than baked beans.”

Jughead raised his eyebrows at Betty suggestively, his blue eyes glinting flirtatiously. Betty just rolled her eyes at him which made him laugh. He loved winding her up.

In the two years that they had known each other, their friendship had always been flirtatious. They made fun of each other, giggled at their inside jokes when nobody else knew what they were talking about, and stole glances at each other when they thought no-one else was watching. On multiple occasions Veronica had told them to “Stop eye-fucking and just fuck already” which left them both open-mouthed and beetroot red.

The only problem was that Betty was genuinely in love with him. But he didn’t know that of course. 

 

Jughead watched Betty as she worked. Occasionally handing her various tools from her tool box, but mostly he just watched her. At some point she had shrugged her shoulders out of the straps of her dungarees and they hung loosely around her waist. Leaving her barely covered by the thin material of her old work shirt. Betty didn’t seem to notice, Jughead certainly did.

Her dungarees and shirt were spotted in dried paint from previous jobs, and there was a smudge of oil on her pale cheek that he itched to wipe away. She really was beautiful, he thought. It pained him that she didn’t see it. She often talked about Veronica’s beauty, slim figure, and flawless fashion sense, while she tugged self-consciously at her own clothes and nervously tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. Jughead loved everything about Betty. Her laugh, the way her long legs looked in shorts, when she wore her blonde hair down in soft waves. Jughead loved Betty Cooper, and he had been working up the courage to tell her for almost two years.

Betty interrupted Jughead’s thoughts as she swore very loudly and hit her spanner against the radiator in frustration. He stifled a laugh at her expression; her brows were furrowed and her nose was scrunched in concentration as she took a deep breath and tightly fastened the valve on the radiator. Perhaps she could sense him watching her because she turned to look at him, her bright green eyes catching the gaze of his blue ones.

“Don’t laugh at me” she huffed, pouting childishly.

“I wasn’t” Jughead defended, a smile playing on his lips.

“You were thinking it”

“If I was laughing internally, how do you know?” he challenged, smirking at her.

“I just know” she muttered, turning her attention back to the radiator as he handed her another tool.

After a few more minutes of tinkering and muttering, Betty suddenly squealed in delight. She lay her palm flat against the previously-freezing metal and smiled brightly. Jughead placed his hand next to hers, their skin touching, and felt the slow warmth that was seeping into the radiator. 

“I knew you could do it!” Jughead exclaimed happily, throwing his other arm casually around her shoulders as he hugged her tiny frame to him. Her blonde hair tickled his nose and he spluttered, making Betty giggle. “You’re amazing. Now we won’t freeze to death at Christmas.” Betty grinned at him. “But, I might starve” he said with mock-seriousness.

“Always thinking about your stomach, Jones” Betty sighed. “One job at a time, please!” Jughead just chuckled.

Betty untangled herself from him and headed off in the direction of her small kitchen. Jughead followed behind eagerly, he was like a dog awaiting a treat. She opened her fridge and stood there for a minute or so, trying to figure out what she could make with half a block of cheese, an onion, three carrots, and half a jar of thai red-curry paste. Jughead peeked from behind her, resting his chin on the top of her head. He couldn’t help but notice that she smelled like vanilla and rose.

“So…” he thought aloud. “Shall we get takeaway?”

 

He was so close to her. Betty could practically feel his heartbeat through the thin material of her shirt. She felt his breath tickle her cheek. He smelled like mint and leather.

“Sure, takeaway sounds good” she replied, trying to keep her voice even. She pulled out the takeaway menus from one of the kitchen draws and handed them to him, averting her gaze. “You choose something while I grab a shower” she called as she headed towards the bathroom. “I’m covered in oil.”

“What do you want?” she heard him call.

“I don’t mind!”

“That’s what Veronica always says, then she complains!”

Betty laughed, turning around to face him before she disappeared into the bathroom. He was leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed as he watched her go. Betty could see the lean muscles of his biceps straining against his jumper and couldn’t help but admire how handsome he was. She had always been weak for his dark curls and bright blue eyes, ever since she - quite literally - bumped into him outside her lecture hall two years before, and the way he was grinning at her made her blush. He didn’t even realise how much he affected her. To him, it was as easy as breathing.

“Choose whatever you want Juggie, I won’t complain” she promised as she reluctantly closed the bathroom door.

Betty set the shower running, grateful for the relaxing stream of hot water as she peeled off her clothes and slipped inside. She took a deep breath as her body warmed up, feeling her muscles begin to unfurl. She always felt tense around Jughead. She never knew what he was thinking and it set her on edge. She was pretty sure her feelings were written all over her face.

Betty stayed in the shower longer than was necessary, trying to calm the wild beating of her heart. She washed her hair with her vanilla-scented shampoo, twice, and stole a little bit of Veronica’s luxury rose body wash that always made her skin feel like silk. She had meant to ask Veronica where she got it, but had a suspicion that her best-friend imported it from somewhere exotic and paid a lot more than it was worth. 

Climbing out of the shower and wrapping herself in a towel, Betty headed back towards the living room to see if Jughead had decided upon what food to order in. She hoped the restaurants would still deliver in all this snow, otherwise they really would end up eating baked beans and chocolate cookies.

“Jug?” she called. “Have you decided on something?”

“Yeah, I’ve already ordered” she heard him reply. She peered around the kitchen doorway and found him retrieving a bottle of wine and two glasses from the cupboard. She didn’t bother telling him that it was Veronica’s and probably costs upward of one hundred dollars. “Do you honestly think I mess around when it comes -” he stopped. Staring at her with wide eyes. 

Betty touched her face automatically, wondering what Jughead was staring at. His eyes quickly scanned down the length of her body and he blushed. Jughead Jones actually blushed. Betty realised why he was flustered; she was standing in front of him in nothing but a towel.

“Well… um… I’ll just go and get changed then” she mumbled as she spun on her heels and practically ran back to her room.

 

By the time the pizza arrived, Jughead was ravenous. He was struggling to keep his feelings in check around Betty, especially after seeing her wrapped in a small towel with her long blonde hair sticking to her bare shoulders, and food was a welcome distraction. 

They sat curled up on the sofa, the pizza and wine glasses on the coffee table in front of them, while they watched Betty favourite Christmas movie: Home Alone. Despite his aversion to festive movies, Jughead would say yes to anything Betty suggested, and _Home Alone_ was a hell of a lot better than some other movies that she liked, like _Titanic_ , or _The Notebook_.

“This is actually better than spending Christmas at home” Betty confessed, snuggling into Jughead’s side. They always sat like this, Betty tucked securely under his arm. He supposed it was because they were always forced to sit next to each other when Veronica and Archie were around. Although, they weren’t there now. “I don’t have to pretend with you, Jug.”

“You have to pretend at home?” he asked, surprised. He always imagined The Coopers to be the perfect family, but perhaps that was because his own family was so messed up.

“There is always so much pressure to be perfect all the time” Betty replied. “Sometimes there isn’t enough room left to just be me.”

“Well I like you just the way you are” he said, squeezing her shoulders gently as he pressed her against him. “And your family should too. But I must say, your taste in movies is atrocious, Betts.” Betty slapped his arm lightly.

“Everyone likes _Home Alone_ ” she insisted. “Stop being a Christmas grinch.”

They drank mugs of hot chocolate and ate Betty’s Christmas cookies (well Jughead ate most of them) and soon they were both yawning. Jughead couldn't understand why he was so tired, he had slept in until 2pm. Maybe it was the way Betty was snuggled so comfortably against him. She was almost in his lap now, sitting between his legs on the sofa with her back pressed against his chest. He could smell her vanilla shampoo even more strongly.

“Betts?” he asked after she yawned for the third consecutive time.

“Mmm?” she replied.

“Do you want to go to bed?”

“Mmm” she hummed.

“I’m going to take that as a yes” he chuckled softly. He untangled himself from her grasp and gently lifted her from the sofa, her hands wound automatically around his neck.

“What are you doing Juggie?” she mumbled, her eyes fluttering open. Jughead nudged the door to her bedroom open with his shoulder and carried her inside. He gently lay her down on the bed and pulled the covers around her. 

“I’m putting you to bed” he replied.

“Stay with me?” she asked, sounding a little more awake this time.

Jughead didn’t need to be told twice. He slipped into the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her as she curled against him. Her blonde hair tickled his cheek. He could feel her fingers lightly tracing circles on his stomach and closed his eyes, inhaling her vanilla scent.

“Jughead?”

“Mmm?”

“What time is it?” 

Jughead checked his watch, he could just make it out in the dim light.

“12:15am” he replied.

“Merry Christmas” she whispered, pushing herself up on her elbows so her face was just over his.

“Merry Christmas.” His voice was gruff as he saw her gaze flicker down to his lips before meeting his again.

 

Betty’s hand cupped his cheek gently. She could feel his slight stubble under her touch and his warm breath brush over her face. Her blonde hair fell around her like a curtain as she leant down and softly pressed her lips to his. She heard his small intake of breath before he reacted to her, his lips moving against hers and his warm hands brushing against the bare skin of her waist where her t-shirt had ridden up. 

 

Jughead rolled them over without breaking their kiss, so he was hovering above her and deepened the kiss. His tongue begging for entrance, which she granted, and he explored her mouth as his hands ran tentatively over her waist and stomach. He drank her in, every bit of her, not quite believing that this was happening after two years of longing. He bit down gently on her lower lip and she moaned. He swore he would never get tired of hearing that sound. 

Breaking away from her so they could both come up for air, Jughead peppered Betty’s collarbone with light kisses, making her giggle as his breath tickled her skin.

“I’m glad that we both got snowed in” she whispered.

“This is already the best Christmas I’ve ever had” he replied, pressing his lips to hers again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my secret santa fic for @chanciwrites. Please leave feedback:) follow me on tumblr @bughead-is-riverdale


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